If it’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord

If it’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord is a 2019 Slice of Life Fantasy anime series from the Japanese animation studio Maho Film. If this anime studio doesn’t ring any bells, don’t worry since at the time of this writing, they’ve only created four series, and one of them was a second season. Whenever a studio showcases its first creation, it is always fascinating how its debut will go. Will they go with a true story, full of heartstrings being pulled? Or will they go with a more fan service type show? Considering that this series is a Slice of Life and a Fantasy anime series, the studio could offer many opportunities. Especially since this studio has no prior track record, so whatever way they decide, it’s going to be interesting.

Eighteen-year-old Dale Reki is a skilled, kind, and respected traveler acknowledged as one of the leading adventurers in the city of Kreuz. One day, while hunting for magical beasts, he came across a sweet devil girl named Latina. She is alone, dressed in rags, and bears the devils’ symbol of a criminal: a broken horn. Concerned for her wellbeing, Dale decides to ensure Latina’s safety by bringing her to his home, eventually adopting her.

Although Dale has an unusual work schedule, he tries his best at being a new parent as he becomes more reassured in his duties. He begins to enjoy the life of parenthood – experiencing the trials that come with raising a child and coping with the heartache he feels whenever he’s busy lifestyle pulls him away from her. As time goes by, the mysteries surrounding the girl continue to remain unknown. Why was Latina alone in the forest, and why does she harbor the symbol of a criminal? At the same time, Latina also begins to learn about the world and herself as she adjusts to a new life with Dale.

On paper, this series may sound sweet and straightforward, which is valid by all standards. The writing is excellent and easy to follow, especially considering its many fantasy elements throughout the series. At the beginning of the series, the story is unbelievable, but once it starts to find its footing, it takes a back seat, which was rather enjoyable by them not overdoing the theatrics.

Another positive aspect of this story is that the level of cuteness is not too overly done, which was a considerable worry based on first impressions. A tale that values plot to cute fan service is vastly underappreciated in anime, and this series did this perfectly. What makes this even better is that the pacing is better than what one may expect for a series of this caliber. The fantasy elements are evenly paced without being too dull, and the world-building was pretty decent compared to other seasonal anime series. These two aspects of the story brought a remarkable emotional impact to any story regardless of the genre.

The biggest problem for this story is that if the viewer is not interested in a cutesy story with a bit of drama inside, this may not be for them. The story does have many cute scenes that will make one’s heart swell with glee, and frankly, that dragged the series down a bit. Some plot areas were a little predictable, whether this was due to the basic writing or the series was going a slightly downward slope before being picked up again. However, the unfortunate parts of this story are hard not to notice, which is expected for a first-time try.

Another negative aspect of this story is that If it’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord had such a large amount of opportunities within its writing to create a massive world, yet they kept it simple. Usually, this would not be a negative aspect of playing it safe, but when a series uses new scenery one episode a week, it gets dull. Within this problem comes a more significant blow with the fantasy genre as well. There is no action or anything to get the viewer alarmed or fearing what will become of the characters. When the series starts to have inner conflict, they slow down and soften the struggle to fit within the cutesy story.

When it comes to the art style of If it’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord; that’s where this anime shines. The beautifully bright colors mixed with the fantasy elements are paired exceptionally well together. The fact that this series toned down the fantasy elements in some areas of the art style was an interesting touch when it came to creating something magical. However, the cutesy art does tend to get a little complacent sometimes. However, when it comes to this anime series’s color tones and atmosphere, they nailed it! An anime series that fits so well with the scenery and characters’ personalities seems to work wonders on an anime of this caliber.

Perhaps the better side of the coin, the animation is very well done and crafted exceptionally well. The smoothness of the animation during a majority of the scenes was flawless. With a few hiccups throughout, that will more than likely be corrected with the physical release. However, what makes this anime series better than what some people may expect is that the opening and ending animations are well created and equally as good! The opening theme song is “I’m with you” by the Japanese voice actress who plays Latina, and the closing theme is “This is Yuusha, but Zannen!?” which was also sung by the voice actor of Dale. The cute simple closing animation theme they used was the cherry on top of this sweetest of desserts.

Though when it comes to the number of characters within this anime series, that’s where things start to get a little dicey. Our main character Dale is an adventurer and a flawless one at that! He is a young man who discovers Latina in the forest during one of his adventures. He is the type of person who immediately falls in love with Latina and becomes her caretaker. He is loving and respectable and a little dim whited but not like most other characters. Outside of this, the series only skims the tip of the iceberg, and it is the tiny tip.

On the other hand, Latina is the other main character within this anime series, and she will melt any viewer’s heart. She is a young devil girl who has been abandoned due to unavoidable circumstances. She is a tad shy, but once she knows the person, she will befriend them instantly! She is a hard worker and wants to do a good job, just as anyone would expect her to do. She is a curious learner and wants to know as much as she can about everything and anything. When it comes to leaving Dale’s side, she sometimes has a problem with the separation, though so does Dale.

A couple of people throughout the series are worthy of mentioning, and rightfully so, but they are left out here partly because they are spoilers to parts of the story. The other reason is that with any pseudo parent and biological anime and even in real life, everyone knows that it takes a village to raise a child no matter what race they come from. So there are plenty of people throughout this anime series that help support young Latina, and unfortunately, they are part of the bigger story that would spoil certain parts of the overall story.

Throughout the entire anime series, the viewer will undoubtedly experience love and admiration for the characters’ parent-child bond towards each other. However, with the basicness of the story mixed with the excellent artwork, and atmosphere the viewer may have mixed emotions afterward. Sure, there is a cute little girl, and she’s doing pretty things throughout the anime, but there is something inside this series that works, and yet at the same time, it doesn’t. The borderline basic level of this series is stopping the wondrous at its peak because it is heavily predictable and not advancing the story in a way that was anything less than generic. Overall, this is an okay anime series that is easy to follow from start to finish but don’t expect anything that hasn’t been done better with previous anime series.